Circular Reasoning
by knowregrets
Summary: My version of the time travel cliche however I'm hoping there is some origanality to it. Near the beginning of her sixth year, Ginny travels back in time to the Marauders era. Contains MWPP, Lily, Snape. Post HBP Full summary inside. COMPLETE
1. Strange Happenings, Death Eaters & Dumbl

_Disclaimer: none of this belongs to me._

_Summary:_

_In a time when Voldemort's power was growing and the prejudice against Muggle-born witches and wizards was reaching its height, how did the muggle-born Head Girl Lily Evans survive to adulthood? During the dark days of despair after James' and Lily's deaths, Peter's apparent death and Sirius' imprisonment, what kept Remus Lupin, werewolf alone, sane enough to stay alive? Apart from being an Animagus, what other things did Sirius have to keep him sane in Azkaban? Why weren't Remus and Sirius scared to use Voldemort's name?_

_Near the beginning of Ginny Weasley's sixth year at Hogwarts, a Hogwarts decimated by the events of the previous year, an accident sends her back, twenty years, in time. To the time when the Marauders ruled the school and for six short weeks a redheaded sixth former, Jennifer West from New Zealand, attended Hogwarts. Six weeks that changed many lives. Six weeks that led to the future we have. The future where Harry Potter is the boy-who-lived, the chosen one. The future where Harry Potter actually exists._

**Chapter one: Strange Happenings, Death Eaters and Dumbledore **

Hogwarts just wasn't the same anymore. There was no way it could be. Less than a third of the students had come back. There was no Dumbledore, well not really. His spirit still infused the school, his grave in the school grounds a constant reminder that he was there, that he loved them all. There was no Ron, no more brothers at the school at all. No Hermione, her best friend, her confidant. But more than that, there was no Harry. Instead there was an empty Harry shaped hole beside her, wherever she went.

He was so noble – it was ridiculous. "It's for the best Ginny." "I don't want you hurt Ginny." "You'd be a target Ginny." That didn't stop him making a target out of Ron and Hermione she noticed. No he didn't mind leading her brother and best friend into danger, just her. A sneaky part of her mind told her what she already knew, she wasn't being fair, but she didn't care because she wasn't in the mood to be fair. Not in the mood at all.

The only things that kept her from screaming, from tearing her hair out with worry, from packing up and going off to find Harry, wherever he was, were Neville and Luna. The three of them were closer than they had ever been. They were the only ones who understood, who knew. But sometimes, sometimes she just needed to be alone. Just needed to wallow in her misery, be selfish.

So there she was. Ginny Weasley, aged 16, student witch, Harry Potter's ex-girlfriend and newly made prefect of Hogwarts School, wandering the streets of Hogsmeade alone and depressed on the first Hogsmeade weekend of the new school year. A Hogsmeade weekend very different from any others she had experienced. A Hogsmeade Weekend where she kept bumping into Aurors and Order members. A Hogsmeade weekend where she could hardly walk two steps without someone saying "Alright Ginny, shouldn't be alone you know. Need to keep an eye out." Of course it had to be poor Tonks who was the sixth person to approach her.

"Wotcha Ginny!"

"Yes alright I know!" She snapped. "I'm keeping an eye out, I shouldn't be alone blah blah blah!" She stopped short as she saw the look on Tonks' face. "Sorry Tonks." She mumbled. "It's just …"

The young Auror smiled kindly at her and put her hand on her shoulder. "It's OK. Nerves a bit frayed, we all are at the moment. Just – look just take care OK?" Tonks squeezed Ginny's shoulder and turned to go.

"Tonks!" As the Auror turned back to her, Ginny pulled her into a brief hug. "Thanks, and take care yourself too!" The two young women shared a look that had so many meanings that they both seemed to understand. Fear for themselves, their families, their friends, their boyfriends, comfort, hope …

'Tonks' thought Ginny after they had parted, 'is the coolest person in the world. She understands. She doesn't think I'm too young, too foolish, too anything! She doesn't try to comfort me with the "it's going to be fine" line or brush me off with the "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it" line. She really understands.'

It was then it happened, something disorientating, like travelling by floo, or apparating. Ginny blacked out for a moment.

'What the … ' Ginny thought to herself. 'Something just happened but …' she looked around. Hogsmeade looked, different somehow. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Everything just seemed slightly, well, off was the only way she could describe it. She looked around for someone she recognised. There seemed to be lots of students around but she couldn't recognise any of them. She spotted a young woman alone, walking towards the bookshop on the edge of the village. There was something familiar about her but she wasn't sure what.

The young woman had long red hair – not a Weasley red, a darker red and she moved with a sort of confident grace that Ginny could only envy. She spotted a shadow behind the girl. Instinctively she pulled her wand out. Something felt wrong.

There it was again, except, no it was another one. This didn't feel good at all. Ginny walked towards the girl. And then she saw them – Death Eaters. They had circled around, cutting the girl off from the rest of the village, trapping her. The other girl noticed them and whipped round – too late.

"Expelliamus!" The girl's wand was torn from her hands. Ginny reacted instinctively and started firing curses at the Death Eaters in response.

Taken by surprise, none of them had seen her there. She managed to put two of them out of action before they could react. "Accio wand." Ginny cast the spell under her breath as she drew closer. The girl's wand flew into Ginny's left hand and she threw it to the girl as soon as she could reach.

With two of the Death Eaters out of action, and the wand back in the strange girl's hand, the odds were better, just three against two. Of course the three were fully trained adult Death Eaters and the two were just NEWT age students but still, it was better. 'Where were the Aurors, the Order members?' She thought. Isn't that why they were here – what they were expecting?'

"Crucio!" Ginny screamed with the pain. "How dare you interfere with us?" The Death Eater screamed at her. "How dare you?"

Through the pain Ginny noticed that the other two Death Eaters were surrounding the girl who was fighting them off with curses, to little avail. Slowly Ginny fought to raise her wand. "Expelliamus!" she said silently as hard as she could. It didn't work completely, but it did manage to knock the Death Eater's wand slightly out of the way. The pain ceased suddenly and Ginny swiftly cast her speciality, the Bat Bogey Hex, on the Death Eater who had been attacking her. OK it was more of a joke hex than a truly dangerous one, but it was the one thing that, even in her pain filled state, she could manage perfectly. And it was surprisingly successful.

The strange girl helped pull Ginny to her feet. It was then she noticed that one of the two remaining Death Eaters was also down. Ginny looked at the remaining Death Eater, he was doing something, saying something … "Run!" she screamed at the girl beside her and the two of them took off towards the centre of the town. Ginny heard screaming from around her: the other students realising that an attack was taking place and then something hit her from behind and then there was silence, and darkness and nothing else.

Someone made a noise, a sort of groaning noise, she realised. It was dark, pitch black. But now she could hear noises, voices. They sounded like they were coming from a long way off.

"Headmaster, I think she's waking up."

"Miss?" She recognised that voice from somewhere, she didn't know where.

The groaning noise again. Hold on that was her – she was making that groaning noise. Dark. Her eyes were shut. Cautiously she opened them, wincing from the sudden light. She saw a face. Blue eyes, twinkling blue eyes. A crooked nose, a beard – long, white and long white hair. "Professor Dumbledore?" Her voice was a croak. He smiled at her. "Am I dead?"

"No, you seem very much alive to me. You gave us a bit of a fright though. Miss Evans has been quite worried. Apparently you saved her life back there."

But her eyes closed again and the voice faded as she sank back into a deep sleep.


	2. Awakening and Realisations

**Chapter two: Awakening and Realisations, Gryffindors and Snape**

When Ginny next awoke it was nighttime. She took in her surroundings. The hospital wing, it looked the same, but different. There was definitely something odd about this whole situation. It didn't make sense. The girl she didn't know, too many students in Hogsmeade, no Aurors or Order members. And there was that time when she thought she woke, it didn't feel like a dream but it must have been. Because there was Dumbledore.

"Ah!" Said a brisk voice, startling her out of her reverie. "I thought you might be waking up about now." It was Madam Pomfrey, but she looked – younger. "Now how are you feeling?"

"Um, fine. My head hurts?" It came out as more of a question than a statement.

"Well that's not surprising. Death Eaters in Hogsmeade! I never thought I'd see the day when that lot dared to come anywhere near Professor Dumbledore!"

"Um, what's the date?" Ginny had a dreadful feeling about this.

"It's Monday evening, two days after you were attacked. October. The 31st." Madam Pomfrey continued, as Ginny remained confused. She'd been in Hogsmeade on the 1st of November – she knew that because it was the day after Halloween. The Halloween feast had been a subdued affair that year. There was precious little to celebrate. Now Madam Pomfrey was saying that Halloween was, well, today?

"I'm sorry I'm confused." Said Ginny. "I can't remember, what year is it?"

"Oh dear, you are confused aren't you. Well I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, the Cruciatus curse on a child! It was bound to upset you. It's 1977 dear."

"Oh." Said Ginny faintly. "Of course."

"Now you settle back and get some more rest. Here drink this. The Headmaster will be along in the morning." Ginny took the potion from her, noting, almost absently, that it was a dreamless sleep potion. She drank it in one gulp and, almost immediately, went back to sleep.

In the morning, when she awoke, she found her head was clear. '1977' she remembered. 'It's 1977'.

"Good morning, young lady." It was Dumbledore. She knew he was alive, of course she did, but it was still a shock seeing him.

"Good morning Professor Dumbledore." She said quietly.

"I'm afraid you have the advantage of me." Ginny looked at him confused. "I don't know your name." He clarified.

"Oh. Of course." Ginny thought. "Professor, I'm going to tell you something that I'm not sure you are going to believe." She paused; he nodded for her to continue. "My name is Genevra Molly Weasley, although everyone calls me Ginny. I was born on the 11th of August, 1981. I'm 16. Before the fight on Saturday, when I was wandering around Hogsmeade, the date was 1st November 1997. I don't know how, or why, but I think I've come back in time."

Professor Dumbledore studied the girl in front of him. She certainly seemed to believe she was telling him the truth. And it would make some sort of sense, she did look like a Weasley but there hadn't been a girl born in that family for generations.

"I know it's hard to believe Professor but …"

He held up his hand to stop her. "It is an … unusual story to be sure. Perhaps you will allow me to ask a few questions?"

"Um, Professor, I don't think I should, you know, say anything that might change things."

"Oh I quite understand Miss Weasley. Perhaps you could tell me who your parents are, and do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Ginny smiled. "Brothers! Lots of them! My Dad is Arthur Weasley, my Mum is Molly Weasley, her maiden name is Prewitt. My oldest brother is Bill." She paused in astonishment. "Gosh he must be coming up to seven now, he was nearly 27 when I left! Charlie is next. He's nearly 25, or five now I suppose. Then there's Percy, he's 21 and then the twins, they are 19: Fred and George – hey, I've just thought. Mum must be pregnant with them right now." She turned amazed eyes to Professor Dumbledore. "Imagine that!"

He smiled at her. "Well that certainly is a large number of brothers Miss Weasley."

"I haven't even mentioned Ron!" Dumbledore's eyebrows raised and she smiled in response. "He's 17, just one year older than me. I'm the youngest. The first Weasley girl in seven generations." Her face fell as she thought of Ron, and by extension of Harry and Hermione. Where were they? Were they alright?

Dumbledore was relieved, Molly Weasley's pregnancy was, at least, something he could verify. "I take it that you are a Hogwarts student?" She nodded. "Which house?"

"Gryffindor." She said with pride. "All the Weasley's have been in Gryffindor."

"Indeed they have. Well, I think the simplest thing" Dumbledore continued, "is to have you enrol as a student in this time until we figure out a way to get you back where you belong." He paused for a moment. "We should come up with a background story, and perhaps a change of name."

Ginny nodded. "What about Jennifer?" She suggested. "Then people can call me Jenny, it's not much different from Ginny so I'm not likely to forget to answer."

"That will do fine. Jennifer Weston I think. From New Zealand perhaps, then at least your familiarity with the language won't be remarked upon." Ginny nodded. "Then I think I'll fetch the Head Girl, she has been concerned about you. It was her life you saved back there in Hogsmeade."

"What's her name?"

"Her name is Lily Evans."

Ginny started in surprise. "Oh!" She said quietly.

"Do you recognise the name?"

"Professor, some of the people at Hogwarts, at this time – I mean it wasn't until I recognised the name, they must be … the war you see, um."

Dumbledore seemed to understand her dilemma. "Ah, well yes. I suspect that there are some students now, who by your time will be dead or injured."

"Yes." She said slowly. "And there are others who will be Death Eaters themselves with horrible things to their names." She pointed out, thinking of Snape.

"Yes, it will be difficult for you I expect." The Professor's voice was filled with sympathy and understanding. "If you ever need to talk, Miss Weasley, my office door is always open to you. The password is Mint Humbug." She smiled at him, in thanks. "I will tell Professor McGonagall, your Head of House, but I don't feel the other teachers need to know. Not right now."

"Yes Professor. Um" It suddenly occurred to her, "I don't have my things."

"Worry not, I will arrange that for you."

Ginny was getting out of bed when Madam Pomfrey came round. She checked her over and pronounced her good to go. "A little less confused I hope Miss Weston."

"Yes, thank you Madam Pomfrey. Um, could you tell me, something hit me from behind and I was wondering?"

"I'm not sure what it was, some form of curse. It hit both you and Miss Evans but she recovered within a day. You were affected worse because of the Cruciatus curse."

"Was anyone else hurt?" Ginny asked, mortified that she hadn't thought to enquire before

"No. We were very lucky." Madam Pomfrey regarded her gravely "I hope you don't make a habit of fighting Death Eaters."

"Not usually." Said Ginny, well aware that she was not being entirely truthful. "Only when there's no other choice." She amended. "Did they get away?"

"Most of them. One of them was captured."

"Well that's one less we have to worry about I suppose." By this time Ginny was completely dressed.

"Jennifer Weston?" A diffident voice came from behind her. Ginny spun round and saw, Harry's eyes. Harry's eyes looking at her from within the face of the girl she had fought beside the other day.

"Jenny." She said. "Just Jenny."

Gryffindor Tower was an ordeal. First of all there was Harry's eyes, looking at her with gratitude, making her feel, well, odd as she tried not to remember what had happened to Lily Evans, what was going to happen in a few years. Then they walked into the Gryffindor Common Room and she saw Harry. Of course it wasn't really him but James, Harry's father, looked so much like Harry that it was hard to think about anything else – unless she looked in his eyes. His eyes were safe.

There was one shock after another. Meeting a small blond, friendly looking, boy who turned out to be Pettigrew, the betrayer. Meeting Remus, her old Professor, looking so, well young. At one point she had turned to greet a tall, handsome boy, with laughing eyes, and had nearly fainted in shock when she realised that this was Sirius. She wasn't even safe with the sixth year students. A quiet, confident, young man offered to help her settle in and show her where her classes were but she recognised the face, and the name, from old pictures she'd seen of Order members. Benjy Fenwick. She could remember, as clear as day, Moody's voice. "We only ever found bits of him."

When she retreated to the sixth year girls' dorm she felt safe. None of their names or faces had rung any bells. But then Alice, a pretty, vivacious, round faced girl confessed to her that the Death Eater who had been captured, had been taken to the Ministry holding cells by her boyfriend Frank, the trainee Auror. Ginny looked into Alice's eyes and saw Neville. She didn't need to ask Frank's surname – it was obvious. She asked anyway, trying to pretend it wasn't true. It was.

Lying in bed that night, awake, listening to the breathing of the other girls, Ginny tried to convince herself that she could do this. That she was brave, that she was strong. Then she remembered Snape. She had barely been able to stomach shaking hands with Peter once she knew who he was, how was she going to handle Snape? Eventually, by using the Muggle meditation techniques Hermione had taught her a couple of years ago, she persuaded herself. Calm. Calm. I will just ignore him. He isn't my year, he isn't my house, I can just avoid him.

The very next morning, however, she discovered it wasn't going to be that easy. She was sat at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, with the other sixth and seventh year students. The other students were chatting away, the usual breakfast nonsense. Ginny was being very quiet. The others had come to the conclusion that she was shy, and that they shouldn't overwhelm her too much. Her old school must have been much smaller than Hogwarts so she probably wasn't used to being around this many people. As she was trying to concentrate on her breakfast, rather than on the worryingly part-familiar faces around her she heard a voice from behind her.

"Hungry this morning Lupin?" enquired Snape "You seem to be _wolfing_ down your breakfast." He sneered.

Ginny tensed and she could feel to her right that James had too.

"What did you want Snivellus?" asked Remus calmly.

"Nothing from you!" he sneered.

"Then why don't you be a good little serpent and slither off!" Said Sirius dismissively.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Actually, we were just discussing the new laws on half-breeds: vampires, werewolves that sort of thing. Perhaps you have some insights into the matter you'd like to discuss with us?"

Ginny's head snapped round, "And exactly what are your fascinating insights on the matter?" She snapped at him.

Looking a little startled at her involvement in the conversation, he soon recovered himself and sneered at her "Well, I believe that there is a lot to be said about putting these dangerous animals" his eyes flicked to Remus and back again "out of their misery, don't you think so?"

"Why you …" Ginny leapt to her feet. "For your information one of my best teachers ever was a werewolf and it was because of idiots like you he had to leave and we got stuck with second-rate prats! Since he stopped teaching I've been privileged to know him as a mentor and a friend and let me assure you he is twice the man you could ever be you greasy piece of human wreckage! And" she added with sudden inspiration, "his girlfriend is really cool too, which, I guess, you wouldn't be likely to know anything about you little worm since you are likely to remain pathetically alone until your, hopefully painful, death!" With that, she grabbed her book bag, pushed past the stunned Slytherin and stormed out of the Great Hall.

'Way to go being calm and ignoring the traitor, Ginny!' she thought to herself as she walked through the corridor.

Back in the hall there was a surprised silence at that end of the Gryffindor table. "Well that about sums it up, don't you think Mr 'Human Wreckage'?" Sirius said grinning at Snape.

Snape scowled and walked off with the other Slytherins muttering about "Getting girls to fight their battles" and "Fabled Gryffindor courage".

"I think I'm going to like that girl!" Sirius said with a grin.

"Me too." Remus grinned right back. "Me too!"


	3. Close Encounter of the Sirius Kind

_A/N For those who aren't familiar with the vagaries of British English pronunciation of names, Featherstonehaugh is pronounced Fanshaw. Don't ask me why, it's for the same reason that Cholmondesley is pronounced Chumlee and Woolfhardisworthy pronounced Woolsey. It just is._

**Chapter three: Close Encounter of the Sirius Kind**

The rest of that first week was hard on Ginny. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher that year, Professor Featherstonehaugh, was, well not the best teacher Ginny had ever had – not the worst, Snape and Umbridge were numbers one and two in her book, but certainly not exactly competent. He'd gone on at length about the mistakes she and Lily had apparently made in their fight the previous Saturday, but it seemed fairly obvious, from what he was saying, that he himself had never experienced the Cruciatus curse and had no idea how debilitating it was. Ginny felt she controlled her temper quite well in the lesson, but wasn't sure how many more times she could hear the arrogant fool say "Of course, what your mistake there was, Miss Weston," before coming out with an impossibly idiotic solution, without cursing him into – well, whatever.

Professor McGonagall's transfiguration lesson was as challenging as usual, but the Professor herself had held Ginny back after class and given her a few gruff words of encouragement that, quite frankly, both surprised and uplifted her. Until potions – Professor Slughorn seemed quite taken with her – he'd heard of her hexing abilities and obviously thought, as he had done when he had met her the previous year in her time, that she was a person of potential worth cultivating. She spent quite a lot of time avoiding his invitation to the "Slug Club" as she was quite certain Snape would be there and she really didn't want to spend any time with him.

Outside of lessons she had tried to avoid people, without being too obvious about it. The excuse of being from a different school and having a lot to catch up on was working, for the moment, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep it up.

Yes, the rest of that first week has been hard on Ginny, but no-where near as hard as that first weekend. She successfully negotiated Saturday by hiding all day in a remote corner of the library. She was about to try and repeat the feat on Sunday when she was commandeered by Benjy Fenwick.

"Oh no you don't Jenny!" He said intercepting her on her way out of the Gryffindor Common Room. "You have plenty of time to catch up, it's fabulous weather and you are not going to spend another day cooped up inside. You are coming for a walk round the grounds with me."

Benjy would have been, in other circumstances, very good company Ginny thought. But the trouble was, she couldn't say anything. She'd start to say something and then realise and have to change her mind in the middle of the sentence. She was certain that she was coming across like a complete idiot. He then forced her to join with the other sixth years for lunch and even made a specific point of including her in the conversation. The others all started doing it as well.

Ginny didn't realise that they'd all decided that she was, not only chronically shy, but also must be incredibly homesick, the way she'd been avoiding them. And they had decided that they were going to make her feel better, make her feel like part of them. They spent the afternoon asking her questions about her old school, her friends, her family. The lies got very wearing on her and, once or twice, she lost track of things she'd said.

She tried to keep it close to the truth, her older brother Ray, her friends Hermia, Harvey, Nigel and Lucy. She figured it was probably pretty safe to talk about Colin Creevey (although she called him Colin Reeves) and his obsession with photography but still, it was a difficult time.

And the worst part of it was, she missed everyone. At least in her own time, she'd be getting some news of what Harry, Hermione and Ron were doing, and both Neville and Luna were there for her. But here – they could have been hurt, or killed for all she knew. And, without lessons, there was very little to keep her mind off them all the time.

She had been very relieved when Monday morning came around. The only sixth form classes scheduled for that morning were Ancient Runes and Divination and Ginny didn't take either of them. It was a small matter to avoid Alice's offer of a walk to the lake, a muttered "Potions homework" did the trick. And it was such a relief to be able to just sit in the corner of the empty common room, alone.

Suddenly she heard someone crash through the portrait hole. She looked up startled, her hand instinctively on her wand.

"Stupid W! Complete B!"

"Hello Sirius. What's wrong?" She couldn't help but be amused, Sirius, in this time period, was infectious with his sense of humour she had discovered.

"That idiot Featherstonehaugh!"

"Oh. He's dreadful." She paused as Sirius turned to look at her "I mean I've had my fair share of bad defence teachers but I've had some good ones too. He's definitely one of the bad. Not the worst though." She thought about Umbridge. "What are you supposed to be doing?"

"Patronus charm. But there's no point. I can't."

"Course you can, why would you think you can't?"

"Because James and Remus at least managed to produce some kind of silvery vapour out the end of their wands, by the end of the lesson, I was the only one who hadn't!"

"Where are they now?"

"Looking for Peter."

Ginny thought for a moment and came to a decision. "A couple of years ago, we had this really awful DADA teacher, completely dreadful, honestly. Wouldn't let us do any magic in class at all!"

"What? That's insane!"

Ginny went into her Umbridge impression "Hem hem. Why on earth would you children need to use magic in class? Do you really think you're going to be attacked in my classroom? As long as you fully study the theory then the practical should be no problem!" She grinned up at Sirius, who was shaking his head at the idiocy. "Anyway," she continued in her normal voice, "Ha – Harvey, this boy at my school, was really good at the whole defence thing so we set up a secret group and he taught us the stuff he knew. There were people from all years there and he taught us all the same sort of stuff." Sirius had, by this time, reversed a chair and sat down on it back to front looking at her. "And one of the things was the Patronus and … I mean I don't pretend to be an expert or anything I've never cast it at a real Dementor and that's supposed to be so much harder but if you'd like I could … well you know." She finished lamely, it was hard to look into those grey eyes and stay coherent for any length of time she found.

"Are you offering to help me?"

"Yes." She said

"You're a sixth year." She nodded, "And you learnt this two years ago."

She looked back down at her homework "Well I knew you probably wouldn't but …"

"Show me."

"Huh?" she looked back up. Sirius leapt to his feet and pulled her into a standing position.

"Show me!"

"Uh, OK." She paused for a moment, filling herself with her happy memory. She pointed her wand "Expecto Patronum!" A large silver lioness burst from the end of her wand and pounced towards the other side of the room, shook it's head and then turned and trotted back towards Ginny. She held out her hand towards it and it came forward and sniffed, as if checking her scent, before disappearing.

"Wow, that was … wow!" Said Sirius sounding impressed. "OK, teach me how to do it."

"Well," she said thinking, "this is the first time you've done this right?" He nodded "OK well the first time is the hardest so it will take a bit longer, but it gets faster with practice." She thought a moment "We're in a calm atmosphere, that'll make things easier. Much easier. Let's see." She looked around the common room, empty apart from them. "OK stand there." she directed him "I need … oh this will do."

"What are you …" he turned round to look at her.

"Face that way!" She said firmly as she dragged a small footstool over behind him and stood on it. He complied with a small grin on his face. Stood on the stool she was nearly his height, which was perfect. She could now speak quietly, almost whisper, and he would hear her.

"OK," she said, "this is going to start of something similar to Muggle meditation. Except we're going to be standing up. You need to relax and prepare. Close your eyes." He complied, "OK now breathe in … and out … in … and out." She matched her breathing to her words, encouraged to hear him follow her, taking deep breaths in a steady, slow rhythm. "Now think of a really happy memory, a time where the world seemed perfect." He frowned for a moment and then nodded. "OK, feel that memory, relive it, let it take over, feel it filling you up."

He could feel her breath at the back and side of his neck. Concentrating hard on not being distracted, he kept up with the rhythmic breathing as he heard her softly spoken words. His happy memory: that day by the lake, with all four marauders. The day they told Moony they'd succeeded and that he'd never have to be alone on full moon every again. They'd all sat in silence, together, friends. That day they had bound themselves to each other so much more than ever before, it was the day he realised that, just like Moony, he'd never be alone again. A feeling of warmth spread through him. He barely registered that there was an attractive girl nearly touching him, he just concentrated on the memory and her voice.

"Now we are going to count down slowly from ten. On one you will open your eyes and cast the charm. Keep concentrating on your happy memory. Ten … nine … eight count with me seven." He joined in quietly "six … five … four … three" she was barely whispering now "two …" she leaned in closer and, as he said one she whispered "Believe!"

His eyes shot open "Expecto Patronum!" It worked. Unmistakably it was a very successful, corporal Patronus that charged out of his wand. The two of them watched it silently charge to the other end of the common room before it turned and trotted back towards them.

"Cool Patronus." Ginny said quietly

"Yeah." He said, sounding slightly awed.

"Wow, Padfoot did you do that!" An amazed voice sounded behind him.

The two of them whipped round startled, Ginny falling backwards off her stool in surprise and Sirius catching her instinctively. The other three marauders were standing at the entrance to the common room gaping in astonishment. The Patronus disappeared as soon as Sirius turned round.

On the disappearance of the Patronus, James took in the scene more closely and grinned. "Something you're not telling us Padfoot mate?"

Sirius seemed struck dumb for a moment. "Um, well …" began Ginny "It's just that Ha – this boy at my old school showed a bunch of us how to do the Patronus a couple of years ago and … um ... I said I'd help and … Sirius you can put me down now, I mean you can do it now it's just a question of practicing so it becomes quicker and I guess I really should get my potions homework done and" red suffused her face as she continued babbling. "Um you can let me go now you know." He did so and she scrambled off the stool and back to the table with her homework, feeling very silly. She buried her head in her potions text thinking 'Oh very clever, Ginny! Now you've just proved you are a babbling idiot to Harry's dad. And to Professor Lupin. And to Harry's Godfather.' Although it was very difficult to think of the seventeen year old Sirius as Harry's Godfather. Especially when his arms had been around her waist and his eyes were so full of laughter and … 'Stop it!' she told herself firmly. 'Just stop it!"


	4. Dinner for Six and a Board Meeting

**Chapter four: Dinner for Six and a Board Meeting **

That evening, for dinner, Ginny ended up sitting sandwiched between Sirius and Remus and opposite James, Lily and Peter. She hadn't had much choice about it, Sirius had grabbed her arm as she went past and pulled her down.

"How was your afternoon Jenny?" Asked Remus politely.

She frowned in response "Featherstonehaugh, after torturing you lot in the morning, tortured us in the afternoon. The others winced in sympathy.

"What's he doing with you?" Lily asked.

"Showing off." Said Ginny bluntly. "Apparently," she said to Lily, "you and I didn't duel correctly with the Death Eaters because we didn't salute them with our wands before cursing them. This shows our 'lack of basic duelling training'." The others laughed, while Lily rolled her eyes. "I told him that we hadn't really thought of it as duelling more trying to stay alive" Ginny continued, "and that he is welcome to salute all the Death Eaters he likes with whatever wand comes to hand as long as he doesn't mind that I'll be running away!"

"You didn't!" Spluttered Sirius.

"I appear to have lost us 20 points." Ginny said, making a face. "Sorry about that but honestly, that man! I was at the end of my tether with him. In the lesson I had with him last week he kept suggesting the most stupid things we should have done."

No-one was really sure how much of the conversation Professor McGonagall had heard while she was passing. All they were sure of is that she dropped her wand by Ginny's chair, "Would you be so kind as to pass me my wand please Miss Weston?" She asked Ginny obliged. "Thank you, 20 points to Gryffindor." She said as she marched off.

The six of them sat in stunned silence for a moment and then burst into laughter simultaneously.

For the first time, since she had come back to 1977, Ginny felt relaxed. No-one asked her any awkward questions about her past. Instead the meal was taken up by the four boys bantering with one another. At one point they went into their "Mr Prongs suggests that …" "Mr Padfoot, humbly points out …" routine which she found hilarious. She'd never heard Sirius and Remus do it back in her time so it didn't bring back any memories. She had a few qualms when she remembered the map – would it show her real name, but she overheard Wormtail mention that it was a shame their map had been confiscated and she relaxed.

It had appeared that whilst the sixth years had decided to try and make her feel at home by getting her to tell them about New Zealand, the seventh years had decided to just treat her like she had always been there. Back when Lily had first escorted her from the hospital wing to Gryffindor tower, Lily had tried to thank her for saving her life. Ginny had assured her that any life saving had been mutual, pointing out that Lily had helped her to her feet after she had been hit by the Cruciatus curse and that the two of them had helped each other run far enough away that the final curse thrown at them had done minimal damage.

Since that time, she hadn't really spoken to Lily much, spending her time either alone, or with the sixth years. During dinner that evening she discovered quite a bit about the Head Girl and found she liked her a lot. She felt that Lily had a lot in common with Hermione as she was muggle-born and very smart. It didn't even occur to her that Hermione would probably have felt that Lily was very like Ginny in her prettiness, her confidence and her wit.

On her way back to the common room after dinner, she found herself walking with James. Lily had been caught up in conversation with one of the seventh year Ravenclaw girls and both Sirius and Remus had decided to play 'chase the Wormtail' after one two many insults had been thrown their way!

James wasn't really that much like Harry, she concluded. They looked alike, of course, but James had none of Harry's, well she couldn't think of the word. Angst was wrong, so was depression. It was more that Harry truly did feel the weight of the world on his shoulders, and James just didn't. Nor did James appear to have Harry's 'saving people' thing. James was brave, and he'd stand up for his friends and for what he believed was right, but he didn't feel that he was the one who should be doing these things. He'd be happy enough to leave it to others. In a way that was good, if he had been the one who had to go off to fight Voldemort, he would never have broken up with his girlfriend for stupid noble reasons, to keep her safe. But then, he probably wouldn't have gone off to fight Voldemort aged 17 at all. He'd fight if the fight came to him, but he wouldn't have gone after it.

The more time Ginny spent with him, the less he reminded her of Harry. It confused her as she knew that both Sirius and Remus had compared Harry to James on previous occasions. She must have been looking at him oddly, something of her inner struggle showing on her face, because James suddenly stopped and turned to her.

"Is something wrong?" He asked anxiously, "It's just that, I'm getting the feeling you think there is something bad about me or something."

"No not at all!" Ginny said quickly. "It's just that, well there's this boy from my old school, and you look a bit like him and when I first met you, you reminded me of him a bit." She continued, thinking 'understatement of the year Ginny!' "I guess it's just that you are so similar in some ways but so different in others."

"Like what?" James was curious.

"He doesn't laugh as much as you. He doesn't tend to joke around much at all actually." She said thoughtfully. "Oh he likes a joke, but he doesn't initiate them. You do. Ha – Harvey is like, so noble and stuff. Takes on much more responsibility than anyone should at his age. You'd never finish with your girlfriend just because you thought it might be dangerous for her to keep seeing you." Some bitterness crept into her tone briefly. "He acts like he's 27 instead of 17 sometimes and …" she paused "he's lonely, even when he's surrounded by friends." She surprised herself with that last comment. It wasn't something she had ever thought about but as she said it she knew that it was true. Before she knew it, tears came into her eyes.

"You miss him." It wasn't a question but she nodded anyway. Suddenly his arm was round her shoulder, in a comforting way. "This Harvey sounds like a bit of an idiot if he'd let a great girl like you go – whatever the reason."

"It wasn't his fault." She said, but she smiled at him. "He was only trying to protect me."

The two walked back to Gryffindor Tower without saying much more, but just as they reached the Fat Lady she heard James say. "What kind of stupid name is Harvey anyway?"

Ginny laughed. "His name isn't his fault, by all accounts his father was a bit of a prat so blame him!"

"I will!" Said James with a mock scowl.

Later that evening, once all four Marauders were back in their dorm room, James coughed for attention. "I'm convening a Board Meeting of The Marauders Ltd!" He said importantly. The four boys gathered around for one of their semi-regular evening discussions. These Board Meetings were the nickname the boys had given their discussions and planning time. In younger years the Board Meetings had consisted almost solely of prank planning, in later years, to James' disgust, and over his protests, there had been some 'Operation Lily' planning which he was sure had put him back almost a year in his attempts to woo her. Nowadays the meetings, whilst still including their fair share of pranks, also tended to include more serious topics, like the things they read about in the Daily Prophet and, in this case, the attack on Hogsmeade which had hit the boys rather too close for comfort.

It started off as a fairly serious Board Meeting for the boys. It was the first time the war had really come close to hurting them, and James hadn't quite processed yet what the loss of Lily would have done to him. The conversation naturally drifted to the newcomer, Jenny Weston, and from there on, the Meeting degenerated into its usual format.

Extracts from the minutes of the Marauders Ltd Board Meeting:

_Opinions are generally favourable amongst the Board members on the new student Miss Weston although Mr Wormtail maintains that she 'looked at him funny' when they first met. Mr Padfoot points out that everyone looks at Mr Wormtail 'funny' and he should consider it a blessing that, despite Mr Wormtail's obvious deficiencies, Miss Weston wasn't so completely repulsed by him that she couldn't stand to be in his presence at all. Mr Moony then points out, in return, that if anyone should know about others being repulsed by him, it would be Mr Padfoot so Mr Wormtail would do well to heed Mr Padfoot's advice. Mr Padfoot agreed although Mr Prongs feels that perhaps Mr Padfoot had not fully comprehended Mr Moony's words on their initial hearing._

_Opinions are unanimous amongst the board that Harvey is a stupid name. _

_The Board considers it the duty of all Marauders to help the young Miss Weston, feel at home. Mr Moony and Mr Padfoot have both volunteered to be the ones in charge of making Miss Weston feel at home and have glared at each other for and unfortunate length of time now. Mr Prongs suspects that Mr Padfoot has finally comprehended Mr Moony's earlier piece of advice for Mr Wormtail. Mr Padfoot growls which is taken as an acknowledgement of Mr Prongs' position._

_Opinions remain negative on this year's DADA Prof. Mr Moony suggests that perhaps GAGA Prof. might be a more appropriate title. Mr Wormtail remains smug that he has little to do with the aforementioned Featherstonehaugh and congratulates himself on not studying DADA to NEWT level. Mr Padfoot points out that congratulating oneself is appalling manners. Mr Wormtail doesn't care._

_The subject of our esteemed Head of House was raised and all four Marauders have taken the opportunity to raise a glass to her. Further observations might, therefore, be tainted with the slightest scent of Firewhisky. Mr Moony points out that Firewhisky is unnecessary for rendering certain Board Members incoherent since that is their natural state anyway, especially on the topic of the esteemed Miss Evans. Mr Prongs points out that Mr Moony is a prat of the first order. Mr Moony acknowledges his pratness but assures Mr Prongs that, in that regard, he feels it doubtful he can compete with Mr Prongs for sheer level of pratdom._

"Mr Padfoot would like it noted" said Sirius raising his glass once more, "that Miss Weston is a very pretty girl."

"Lonely, even when surrounded by friends." James repeated quietly to himself.

"That's actually an impressively astute observation." Remus responded in some surprise. "Mr Moony would like to ask Mr Prongs if perhaps his acute observation of the esteemed Miss Weston, might perhaps elicit a negative reaction from the, equally esteemed, Miss Evans?"

The meeting was more or less declared null and void at that point and the resulting wrestling match caused one or two new bruises amongst the participants, as well as causing the unfortunate breakage 'beyond repair 'of a chair. All in all, it was the usual end to a Marauders Ltd Board Meeting.


	5. Conversation by the Lake

**Chapter 5: Conversation by the Lake**

The boys didn't have as easy time getting to know Ginny as they thought they would. That night, the proximity to James, Lily, Peter, Sirius and Remus got to her. Although she had enjoyed their company so much during dinner, she hadn't even thought about their futures, once she was alone in bed it came back to her.

A combination of nightmares about the boys and Lily, and about Ron, Harry and Hermione, left her both physically and emotionally drained the next morning. She turned up for her first class, which fortunately was Transfiguration, and was immediately sent to the hospital wing and told, "Get some sleep, real sleep, before you come back."

Madam Pomfrey, the young Madam Pomfrey, was sympathetic when she saw her. She gave Ginny some dreamless sleep potion, with a warning to use it no more often than once a week, and shooed her back to the Dormitory.

For the rest of that week she successfully avoided nearly everyone with the plea of catching up on Tuesday's missed work and tiredness. She woke early on the Saturday. It was a coldish day so she figured very few people would be outside. Wrapping herself up in a couple of jumpers, she took her books down into the grounds and found a place to sit by the lake. Leaning against a tree, she cast a warming spell on herself and settled down to read.

Lily was in a 'panic about NEWTS' mood that day, and with Peter in detention, that left Sirius, Remus and James to their own devices. They spent a about half an hour flying around the Quidditch pitch, James showing off as usual, when Remus spotted the girl by herself. He swooped back down to the ground and started heading off towards her, carrying his broom.

"Hey Remus, deserting us?"

"Jenny's over by the lake, I haven't seen much of her this week so I thought I'd go and say hello."

"Good idea Moony!" Sirius said enthusiastically. Faced with the desertion of both his friends, James decided to join them.

"Hi Jenny!" The boys called out as they approached. She looked up at them with drawn eyes, which, although they didn't mention it, worried all three boys. "What are you up to?"

"Um. I've got lots of work to catch up on, from when I was ill on Tuesday."

"Looks like you've been working for a while. Well don't mind us, we'll wait until you fancy taking a break." Sirius said firmly.

"So" said Ginny when it was obvious that they were going to stay and talk to her, no matter how much work she pretended she had to do, "where's Peter?"

"Detention." Said James.

"Oh." She was glad really. It was difficult to keep up a civil conversation with him when she knew what he would do. Not as difficult as with Snape, obviously, but thankfully she needn't bother about civilised when talking to him.

"So, um, Jenny I wanted to, you know, thank you for the help you gave me on Monday." Sirius couldn't help feeling that this would have been easier if the other two idiots hadn't been sitting opposite him grinning. "You should have seen the GAGA Professor's face when I performed the charm better than he can!"

Ginny turned pink. "Oh, it was no problem honestly."

"I'm not sure how useful it'd be if I can only do it with the meditation stuff though."

"Oh you just need practice now. Practice filling yourself up with your happy memory – you know how it feels when you've succeeded." She thought a moment and grinned wickedly. "See if you can get to the stage where you're completely full of your happy memory when you encounter that dreadful Snape boy – after all, if you can hold on to your happiness when you are talking to him, how much harder can a Dementor really be? I've only been her a few weeks and it seems to me he has much the same effect!"

The others laughed appreciatively. "Snape the Dementor!" was a popular idea with the boys and they lined it up alongside "Snape the greasy piece of human wreckage" as useful ammunition for the future.

As Sirius offered to pay Ginny back somehow, the conversation reminded Remus of something he had been curious about. "I was going to ask you something." Remus began. Ginny turned towards him, quite thankful as, for some reason she couldn't immediately discern, she was finding Sirius a bit flustering. "When you first arrived, you said something about this werewolf you knew,"

"Uh huh." she said warily, trying to think of a way she could back out of the conversation. She really didn't want Remus to know it was him, twenty years in the future.

"Well I was wondering," the other two were looking at him, nervous about where he was going with the conversation, "what was your reaction, when you first found out?"

Ginny looked at the ground for a moment then, deciding that honesty was probably the best policy, looked him straight in the eyes. "Fear. Plain, stupid, ignorant fear." Remus looked steadily back at her. "I was twelve years old and I've been brought up on the same tales as every other pureblood out there you know. But" she continued with emphasis, "he was the same person he has always been. The same kind, considerate, teacher … the same man who had spent what, to him, must have been a very boring Saturday afternoon listening to the troubles of a lonely second-year girl and given her a few words of advice that completely turned her life around. And it didn't take me long to realise that."

They sat in silence for a moment and then she continued, "I know now how life had been tough for him. He'd never been able to hold down a steady job, sooner of later they'd find out and he'd be sacked. But still, he was such a good" she paused "man you know? He wasn't bitter, he didn't rail at fate (although I'm sure he must have wanted to) he'd been bitten when he was a child and didn't really remember anything before that. He was lonely, most people react so badly to knowing about his condition he had a tendency to close himself off from them. He went through such terrible pain every month. Of course I didn't know back then how painful werewolf transitions are, I've found out since that they are so bad that a werewolf can hold up to the Cruciatus Curse (for brief periods at least) better than others, simply because they have to have a so much higher pain threshold."

Remus blinked, "I didn't know that." He said quietly.

"Well it's not much of a compensation for everything else, but it is an advantage of a sort, especially if your enemy doesn't know."

Remus nodded, content to let that be an end to the conversation for the moment. Ginny, however, hadn't finished. She looked down at the grass, deliberately not making eye contact with any of them. "Withdrawal from people is the wrong thing to do, of course. One of the things he said to me once was 'trust in your friends, if you withdraw from them, they'll withdraw from you and that is the one thing that will tear a friendship apart quicker than anything else.' It sounded like he was speaking from experience and later I found out … well let's just say both he and a friend of his had gone through a painful learning process with that one." She felt the tone needed to be lightened. "And like I said, he's got a new girlfriend now and she is really cool!"

"Yeah, what's she like?"

"About 25, pretty, wild. Intelligent though, she's an Auror – back in New Zealand of course."

"25? How old is he?"

"Late thirties I guess, does age really matter though when it's the right person?"

"I guess not." The four of them sat in silence for a moment.

"So, how are you settling in at Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.

"Fine, thanks. Getting to know people." Suddenly she saw an opportunitiy to tease. "Of course, I hear a lot of gossip about you lot you know, I feel I know you already!"

"Well, obviously, when you're gorgeous" Sirius said, modestly, "girls are bound to talk about you."

"Absolutely!" Ginny grinned wickedly. "Half the Gryffindor girls fancy Remus like mad, he's got this whole shy good looks thing that a lot of girls really go for." Ginny pointed out.

"Hold on! Remus isn't the good-looking one! I'm the good-looking one!" Said Sirius firmly despite James' laughter and Remus' shock at Ginny's statement.

"In a different way though." She responded. "Remus is good looking because he doesn't know how attractive he is. He's got this whole modest 'good boy' thing going. You however," she continued with a smug smile "do, I admit, have the whole 'bad boy' thing but it's coupled with a bit too much arrogance. The only reason you're attractive is your pretty boy looks and they'll fade pretty soon, probably about the same time that girls grow out of their 'bad boy' thing anyway. And a lot of them are put off by the attitude."

Sirius looked mildly offended as James commented, "So basically, Sirius might get some action now, but long-term, Remus will be the winner!"

"Kind of." Ginny said, "You see the whole attraction to bad boys that some" she emphasised the some quite strongly "girls have is the desire to turn the boy good. Whereas the attraction of good boys is the possibility for turning them bad." She raised her eyebrows at them. "Therefore, I'd say, Remus is likely to be both the short term and long term winner!"

Remus laughed, he couldn't help noticing that although Ginny was talking about him and ostensibly answering James, her attention was almost entirely on Sirius – not her face which was consciously turned away from him (apart from the odd glance) but, well, everything else about her. He felt sure that Ginny, however much she might put the idea down, was probably basically a 'bad boy' kind of girl – at least in Sirius' case. "Basically mate, what she's saying is that I'll get the girls who want to corrupt my innocence, while you'll get the ones who want to force you to wait for them!"

Sirius scowled at him while Ginny grinned wickedly and winked "Precisely!"

"Sounds a good deal to me." He said. Sirius threw a handful of grass at him in response.

"Better practice getting some grass stains then 'good boy'!"

The three boys threw friendly insults around a bit while Ginny laughed at them. It was so easy to forget, while she was in their company, so easy. It was just as she was thinking that, she was suddenly struck by fear for Ron, Harry and Hermione. James noticed the way her face suddenly froze immediately. "Thinking about Harvey?" He asked astutely.

Ginny looked down at the ground and nodded. "Sorry, I'm just worried, you know?"

"Its OK." Remus said to her quietly as he put his hand over hers. "There's nothing wrong with being worried about your friends you know."

She smiled at him briefly. "I know, I'm sorry though, I didn't mean to bring the conversation down, I was enjoying myself."

The boys were silent for a moment. "Hey Jenny, do you play Quidditch?" James asked suddenly.

"I don't have a broomstick."

"We'll borrow one of the school brooms." He leapt to his feet. "Coming?" He offered her his hand. Quidditch, she thought, might be just the thing to get her mind off things.


	6. Wizard Chess and Helpless Tears

**Chapter six: Wizard Chess and Helpless Tears**

Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were sat in the headmaster's office, playing one of their regular games of Wizard Chess. The two of them had found over the years that this, seemingly innocuous activity, provided them the chance to discuss matters they didn't necessarily wish to discuss in either staff, or Order of the Phoenix, general meetings. Quite naturally one of their topics of conversation that evening, was their visitor from the future.

"Has she come to speak to you at all?" McGonagall asked.

"No, I take it she hasn't visited you either?"

"No. I can't help thinking that she should speak to one of us though. I've been watching her."

"Ah. I wonder if you have come to the same conclusions I have?"

"And those would be?" She asked tartly.

"She is a complex young woman." He replied slowly, with a slight smile for McGonagall's evasion. "And in a troubling situation."

"She looks at people sometimes, and there is a dead look in her eyes."

"Undoubtedly she knows of horrors yet to come. Knowledge of the future: a dreadful thing to live with."

"Are we doing the right thing, not allowing her to tell us?"

"Yes." His answer was uncompromising. "There is too much possibility in these things, for the world to be thrown completely off kilter."

"The future is not immutable."

"But there are some things we should not change. And I'm afraid that neither of us is wise enough to know what those things are."

The two professors played on silently for a few minutes. Professor McGonagall broke the silence. "I can't help but feel that we should be doing more for her."

"I've been researching ways to send her back."

"I know. Any conclusions yet?"

"Alas, most of the ways I've found involve pulling someone from the past, through to the future, not sending them there." He paused. "I'm leaving full notes of the processes, however, in the hope that they will be found and utilised at the appropriate time."

"But surely you're not …"

"I am not giving up on the idea of sending her from this end of time, I just haven't found anything yet. Time travel, is not an area greatly explored by wizards, other than for short periods of time." They paused in their conversation for a moment while Dumbledore extracted himself from the cunning trap McGonagall had been working some time on in their game. "What do you think of her as a person?"

"She's bright. A good student, not the best, but certainly adequate." Minerva rarely acknowledged her students as being more than adequate. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at her – she knew that had not been exactly what he was asking. "She's been through a lot, it's in her eyes. I can't help worrying what the future holds if our children …" she trailed off.

"I suspect, that even in the future, our Miss Weasley is not typical."

"I hope so. Oh that sounded wrong, she is a student I would be proud to have in Gryffindor, it's just – "

"I know what you mean Minerva." They paused again to concentrate on the game, the two professors were fairly evenly matched and their chess games tended to be hard fought and require a great deal of concentration.

"She seems to be avoiding people when she can."

"You'd noticed that too." He said mildly. "Yes, unhealthy for her."

"Perhaps one of us should …" McGonagall paused. "Albus you know you are so much better than me at those sorts of things. I think you should talk to her."

"You underestimate yourself Minerva." She scowled at him. "Although I probably should be the one to approach her, I think we should both be there."

"When?"

"Tomorrow evening. After dinner perhaps."

And decision made, they moved on to other topics. At the end of the closely fought game, McGonagall won. That evening brought their total tally to McGonagall having won 626 games and Dumbledore 637.

The next evening Ginny approached the Headmaster's office with a mixture of trepidation and hope. Had he found a way to send her back? Or did he want to tell her it was hopeless?

"Come in Miss Weasley and do have a seat. Mint humbug?"

Ginny smiled, "No thank you Professor."

"Firstly, I'm afraid, I have not yet found the solution to sending you home – I do have a number of possibilities though, some of which involve people from your time collecting you. If I cannot find any other way, is there somewhere I should leave the information I've found?"

"I think if it was accessible to the Head Teacher of the school that would be fine Sir. But if you don't mind me asking, if you had done that, why isn't someone here already?"

"There are a number of considerations which mean that the solutions have to be enacted upon at a certain time, both in your time and in this one. Do not lose hope Miss Weasley."

"Thank you sir. Was that everything?"

"No Miss Weasley." Professor McGonagall took over. "We wanted to talk to you about your behaviour in this time."

Ginny looked at the floor in concern. She had been trying, really she had but she didn't know how she could explain it. Everything was so difficult. "If I could only tell you …"

"That you cannot do." Dumbledore interrupted her. "I do understand how difficult this is Miss Weasley, and in general we both agree that you are handling the situation admirably." Ginny perked up a bit. "But we are concerned for you."

Ginny looked puzzled at that.

"You don't have to do it alone Ginny." McGonagall said. "I know you cannot tell us anything, but we are here for you even if …"

"Even if all you need is a jolly good cry." Dumbledore completed the sentence that McGonagall couldn't seem to finish. Without thinking about it Ginny's eyes filled with tears.

"Its just so hard." She said despairingly. "So hard knowing … things."

"We understand." Said McGonagall, unconsciously moving to sit next to her. That small action opened the floodgates and Ginny sobbed into her shoulder. Not really used to having students cry all over her (McGonagall wasn't really that type of teacher) she panicked a bit. She did her best to make comforting noises and gestures, but wasn't really certain what she was doing. Dumbledore was torn between sympathy for the girl in front of him and amusement at the look on McGonagall's face.

McGonagall wasn't doing too badly, all told. The opportunity to cry was what Ginny needed, and the realisation that both professors understood her predicament was, in a strange way, comforting in itself.

After Ginny had cried herself out, she was informed by both professors that any time she needed to do that, no matter what the hour or how frequent, both their doors were open to her.

As the emotionally exhausted girl was leaving, Professor McGonagall had one more piece of advice for her. "Don't isolate yourself child. Make friends, even if it seems hard, it really will make things so much easier. Just be yourself with them."


	7. Names, Changes and Fears

_OK I created the title from a mauled first line of a song – just because! I only changed one letter, virtual chocolate frog to those who get it._

**Chapter seven: Names, Changes and Fears**

The next couple of weeks passed in a bit of a blur for Ginny. She was still getting nightmares about what the future was going to hold for her new friends, but she tried to leave those nightmares in her bed and enjoy the time she had getting to know them. She tried to focus on all the things she could tell Harry when she got back about his parents and Godfather. And she developed a plan. 'OK, I can't tell anyone anything' she thought to herself, 'but I can try to change things in a more subtle way.' When things got too hard, she went to see Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall. Both of them gave her whatever time she needed, and allowed her to cry herself out when it was necessary.

Her main action plan, simply because she knew more about the situation, was with Sirius and Remus. She was going to make sure they trusted each other if it killed her! She also worked on Peter, when she had the chance. What turned Peter bad? Maybe she could plant enough seeds in his mind to stop him going over to Voldemort. Her main impact, had she just realised it, was however, in the unplanned things, the things she did naturally. Ginny (or rather Jenny Weston) had developed a reputation for being the one people came to when they wanted an opinion on something. People didn't always agree with what she said, but they respected her opinion.

Back in her own time, she never noticed this talent. Mostly because, when people wanted an opinion on something back then, they went to Harry or Hermione. Her own classmates had valued her opinion and, in the few short weeks of her sixth year before she had been thrown back in time, many of the other Gryffindors had started coming to her too. Her best friends, back in the Hogwarts of her own time, had become Neville and Luna. Out of the three of them, Ginny had never realised that she was the undisputed leader. Hermione had also gone to Ginny for advice at times: advice on wizarding world things, advice on girl things.

Back here, in the past, her natural good sense (coupled with a knowledge of the future that they did not have) had started to make her indispensable to her fellow students.

One Friday, over the evening meal, most of the older students were at one end of the table discussing some of the recent Death Eater attacks. The previous week had seen a rash of them, ranging from small scare tactics, through to a number of random killings. Ginny was feeling her usual guilt over the situation – surely there was something she could have done to stop it. Even though she knew rationally that she hadn't had every incident memorised, that most of the things had never made it into the history books (simply because, at that time, there were so many incidents) she couldn't help her guilty feelings. It was for this reason that she was always fairly quiet during these sorts of discussions, unless someone asked her opinion on something directly.

However that evening, something snapped. "Don't call him that!" The other Gryffindors look at Ginny stunned that she would snap at someone out of the blue. "All of you, stop it. It's stupid – all this 'You-Know-Who' and 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' business. Of course he can be named! His name is Voldemort – use it!"

The others collectively winced at her use of the name and there were cries of "No!" "Don't say it!" and similar variations.

"Look," she continued in a more reasonable tone of voice, "Voldemort's" she ignored the routine flinching at the name "main purpose with these attacks is to create fear amongst us all. That's his worst weapon – Avada Kedavra kills one person at a time, yet each time he uses it, 100 people become frightened." She looked around the table, the others were looking at her in a sort of stunned silence.

"What Voldemort wants" she continued, "is for us all to be so afraid that we won't fight back, so afraid that we won't even use his name. Every time you say that ridiculous phrase, he wins. If you are too afraid to say his name, he's beaten you before you've even raised your wand in battle."

"Aren't you scared?" asked one of the fifth year girls.

"Of course I'm scared – but I'm a Gryffindor" she grinned, "no-one is going to kill me without a fight. Not even Voldemort." She looked up and caught Sirius' eyes. "If I can't say his name, if I give in to my fear then I'm nothing."

"Well I suppose it is pretty stupid to be scared of a name." Lily commented.

"And it's not even a very scary name!" James added, sneaking his hand into Lily's (where it seemed to spend most of it's time) "What is it supposed to mean anyway?"

"In French", said a shy sixth year boy tentatively, "I know 'mort' means death and I think 'vol' is flee or flight or something and I know 'de' can be of or from."

"He's named himself after what he's scared of!" Said Ginny suddenly "Lord Flee-from-death!" The other students giggled, there was a release of tension at that end of the table.

A couple of the muggle-born students started chanting "Run away, run away!" and collapsing in giggles that were incomprehensible to the pure-bloods. One or two people started trying out the name 'Voldemort'. It still made them feel uneasy but Ginny had made sense. They were Gryffindors. Gryffindors were brave. No Gryffindor would give up without a fight.

After that conversation some, and gradually more, of the older Gryffindors started using Voldemort's name. Although many people were tentative at first, gradually they started to become more confident. One person in particular hadn't been at the dinner that night though. Remus. That Sunday, two days later, Ginny and Lily were sitting eating breakfast when James and Remus wandered down to join them. James was explaining the previous conversation to Remus as they arrived in the great hall.

"Remus was ill that night." James explained to Ginny

"Oh of course it was the full moon!" Ginny said without thinking. Then, realising her mistake, she put her hand across her mouth in horror. "Oh my God I did not mean to say that! I'm so sorry Remus I wasn't thinking – carry on, pretend I don't know! Oh God I'm an idiot!"

Although initially shocked by her comment, her distressed reaction was so funny Remus started to laugh "Never mind, I suppose I don't need to worry about you with the stuff you've said before!"

"I'm still a grossly insensitive fool, honestly what was I thinking!"

"Rest assured, I'm not worried about any of my real friends knowing Jenny. And I'd say you fitted into that category."

Ginny went quiet. 'Real friends'. That is what she had been trying to avoid thinking about these last few days. They were all here, in this time, starting to become real friends and she was continuing to lie to them. About everything. And horrible things were going to happen to them and she wasn't stopping it because she was worried about the future. 'How much longer' she wondered to herself, 'can I actually cope with this?' She looked at Remus "Friends." She said quietly.

"So how did you know?" James asked her.

"I guessed, kind of." She responded untruthfully, her mind working quickly. "Some of the things he said, Snape" as usual the name came out with a sneer, 'that first evening, someone said something about you often being ill, you know. I mean it's not like I haven't seen the signs before."

"I suppose." He said. He seemed to know she wasn't being entirely truthful, but couldn't work out how else she might have known. He stored it in the back of his mind for further investigation, but low priority. After all, if Moony wasn't bothered, why should he be? And any girl who had such a strong hatred of Snape couldn't be bad.

"Actually" said Lily, "That brings up a point I've been curious about." The other three looked at her. "I understand why Remus is Moony, but where do your other names come from? You started using them in fifth year I remember that."

"Why Evans!" Said James in mock shock. "I didn't know you were paying me such close attention back then. I thought you believed I was an arrogant prat?"

"You still are, and don't go back to calling me Evans or I will start calling you Potter again!" She said with a smile, and the two returned to bantering good naturedly, Lily not noticing how neatly the conversation had been diverted.

Ginny noticed and Remus wondered at the knowing quality of the slight smile she wore.


	8. 3 Broomsticks, 5 Death Eaters & 9 Gryffi

**Chapter eight: Three Broomsticks, Five Death Eaters and Nine Gryffindors**

'This' Ginny thought to herself, 'is something that I'd never have done in my time!' She was sitting in the Three Broomsticks, on a Friday evening, without permission, with eight other Gryffindors. Although she was sticking to Butterbeer, she was one of only two with several of the others on mead or wine and both James and Sirius becoming quite effusive and enthusiastic on Firewhisky.

The evening started simply enough, in the common room, a group of sixth and seventh years sat around engaging in the usual banter. Then someone, OK Sirius, suggested a quick drink to celebrate the fact that it was the 2nd of December. Well it had seemed like a good reason at the time. So the nine of them had snuck out of the tower, narrowly avoiding the insane Fitch, and disappeared down one of the secret tunnels from the school to Hogsmeade.

Ginny was surprised that Madam Rosmerta, the barmaid of the Three Broomsticks, although always nice to students on their Hogsmeade days, was apparently fairly willing to turn a blind eye to less than permitted activities when she was younger. She spotted them sneaking in on over to a half-hidden table at the back of the pub and came over happily to serve them.

She had been in the middle of laughing at Benjy Fenwick's impersonation of Professor McGonagall when the pub went quiet. She turned to look, as did the other students. Five Death Eaters, in full masks, had entered.

"Well now, what have we here?" One of them spoke, with a nasal whine to his voice. "Looks like these good" he almost spat the word, "folk were having fun, not caring about their heritage, drinking with Mudbloods!" One of the other Death Eaters laughed, a female voice. Beside her, Ginny felt Sirius twitch. "Well we want some fun too, but we are a little more discerning in our tastes."

Three of other Death Eaters stood at the exits of the pub, the fourth held Madam Rosmerta at wand point. The leader of the group started wandering around the pub, he hadn't seen the students but it was only a matter of time. "What have we here!" He said grabbing a nearby witch by her hair and pulling her out of her seat. "A Mudblood! What a surprise." He sneered, pushing her to the floor. He pulled out his wand. "Can anyone tell me what we do with Mudbloods?" There was a deathly silence in the pub. "No-one? What a pity. Perhaps I'll give you some incentive to answer then. Crucio!"

"Stop!" Ginny stood up, before she even realised that it was her who spoke. "Leave her be!"

The Death Eater turned to her. "And what do we have here? A schoolgirl, if I'm not mistaken. One of Dumbledore's precious ones. Out of bounds without permission, dear me, how very unfortunate." He strode forward a few steps as Ginny moved to place herself in the middle of the floor, ignoring the arms trying to pull her back into her seat. "An arrogant one, who presumes to tell me what to do!"

Ginny looked at him steadily. "I may be a schoolgirl," she said firmly, "but I'm not afraid of playground bullies." She endowed the word with all the contempt she could, hoping desperately that he didn't notice that it was mere bravado that spoke. Hoping that there were enough people in the pub, in a relatively sober state, who would realise that together, they were more than a match for just five Death Eaters out to scare them. She tossed her head in a defiant gesture.

"Arrogant and a fool. Gryffindor no doubt, bravely sacrificing yourself for others. How … noble!"

"No-one is going to be sacrificed tonight. I think you should take your little friends and leave now."

"Crucio!"

She was hit briefly by the curse, but it quickly ended when all eight of her companions, and several others in the pub, hexed the man simultaneously. He collapsed in a heap on the floor. There were twenty people in the pub now standing, wands in their hands. They turned towards the four remaining Death Eaters. The four of them disapparated, the one by the front door however (the woman who had laughed earlier) managed to hex Ginny with something before doing so. She blacked out.

Ginny came round in the hospital wing to the sound of whispered voices. "Is anybody hurt?" She asked as she opened her eyes. She was immediately surrounded by her friends. After several assurances that she felt sore, but fine, she repeated her question.

"I believe, Miss Weston, that you were the only one to sustain a serious injury." Professor Dumbledore replied. "And I am assured by Madam Pomfrey that you will not suffer any long term consequences."

"That woman …"

"She received the Cruciatus curse for only a few moments, she is sore but will undoubtedly recover fully by tomorrow."

"Good." She said and sat up. Remus immediately arranged her pillows behind her so she was able to sit comfortably and she smiled at him in thanks.

"Of course the question," Dumbledore continued, "of what nine young Gryffindors were doing in the Three Broomsticks on a Friday evening instead of in Gryffindor Tower, fast asleep in their dormitories, is one that will need to be asked at some point." James opened his mouth to respond but Dumbledore beat him to it. "Not asked by me however, I believe Professor McGonagall will be investigating that little matter."

The Gryffindors were silent for a moment. All in all, they felt, it had been worth the excursion but …

"How are you feeling?" Sirius sat on the bed beside her.

"A little sore, but it's nothing." She replied with a smile. "Honestly!"

"You were fantastic!" Said Benjy with a broad smile.

"I was an idiot!" Replied Ginny.

"I don't understand." James confessed. "Why did you do it, you could have stayed hidden in the corner, why did you confront them?"

"They had gone there to torture someone, to scare us. If it hadn't been me it would have been someone else."

"But you stood up, you made it you. It needn't have been you. It could have been someone else."

"In what way would that have been a good thing?"

"Well you wouldn't be here, in the hospital wing."

"But someone else would have, I repeat, in what way would that have been a good thing?"

"Well it wouldn't but …" he trailed off.

"Look James" she said intently, "there's a muggle quotation a friend of mine once told me. 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'. This is what it is talking about. I could have said 'someone else can take care of it' but if everyone said that, then no-one would do anything and Voldemort will win by default." She paused, and looked past him, straight at Dumbledore. "We have to stand up and say 'No!' Everyone who believes it's wrong. We have to be heard. One voice may not make a difference, but the lack of one voice might." She looked back at James. "Tell me, what happened when that Death Eater was torturing me, tell me?"

"We all hexed him."

"All of you." She repeated. "Did it work?" She knew the answer of course, it wasn't something she was likely to forget, but she wanted James to supply it.

"Yes. The hexes combined and knocked him unconscious."

"You see, together we are stronger. If we all say 'No!' we can win."

"Is that something your Harvey said?" James smiled at her.

"No. It's just something he does without thinking about it. He's always done it, since I've known him. He's always put himself between others and danger, but he could never explain to you why, it's just something he does. An instinct. I'm not nearly as brave as him. I had to work through my reasoning first!"

"I'm scared." Lily said, manoeuvring herself under James' arm.

"We're all scared." Said Remus. "But Jenny is right, that's why we have to do things."

Ginny nodded. "Personally, I'm terrified." She said in a conversational tone of voice. Sirius couldn't help it, he laughed, more at her tone than anything else. Pretty soon they had all joined in.

"Madam Pomfrey," said Professor Dumbledore, "is Miss Weston free to go?"

"Yes, she should be fine." The nurse replied walking off, muttering under her breath "Death Eaters, hexes, curses, why me? Why me?"

The students all laughed again as they helped Ginny out of the bed.

"I think all of you are now well overdue for your own beds." Said Professor Dumbledore firmly. But as they headed off he caught Ginny's eye and, quite clearly, winked at her.


	9. Boys! Time & Time Enough

_A short chapter, but a lot happens. The next chapter will be much longer._

**Chapter nine: Boys! Time and Time Enough**

Lily and Ginny were walking. It was a cold Saturday in December, but they had decided to go walking around the grounds anyway. It was a week after their excursion to the Three Broomsticks and the girls had grown closer in that time. The talk drifted, naturally enough, to boys.

"But I thought you loved James?" Ginny asked surprised.

"I like him, of course, it's just that, I don't know." Lily paused to consider. "There's something missing, something … heroic." She said wryly. "You're Harvey, he's heroic from all you've said."

"Heroes aren't always easy people." Ginny said sadly. "Besides, he dumped me."

"Yes but you're going to change that. When you see him again I mean. I don't see you as the pining quietly type!"

Ginny laughed. "Not any more I guess."

"Some things are meant to be. Some people belong together."

"Like you and James?"

"No." She replied sadly. "I don't know whether we are."

"I don't know if I'll ever see him again." Ginny said with a catch in her voice.

"You will, of course you will. Come on, I'm cold. Let's head back."

The two girls wandered back to the castle, arm in arm.

"Hello Firecracker." Lily looked up in astonishment at the tall, redheaded man with the scarred face who had appeared at the end of the corridor.

Ginny pulled herself away from Lily and rushed into his arms "Bill, oh Bill!" The two of them hugged, Ginny crying and Bill making soothing noises.

The stranger looked up at Lily "Miss …"

"Evans, Lily Evans." She supplied. She was a little afraid of this disfigured young man but since Ginny obviously knew and loved him she figured he was probably safe.

"My sister and I will be leaving shortly, could I ask you to take care of her for me for a little while first because I need to go and see the Headmaster."

"Bill?" Said Ginny tentatively. "We're going back … going home?" He nodded. She stood away from him and said "OK. I'm going to say goodbye."

He smiled. "I'll be back in a few minutes Firecracker."

The two girls entered the Gryffindor common room while Bill strode off towards the headmaster's office. The common room was nearly empty, only Remus and James were in there. "Jenny's leaving!" said Lily as soon as the girls entered.

Remus blanched while James exchanged a glance with Lily and then rushed upstairs to the seventh year boys' dorm. "Leaving?" Said Remus looking at Ginny in concern. She nodded her response. "But why?"

"Because I have to."

The two Professors were somewhat surprised to see the tall young man enter Dumbledore's office in the middle of their chess match. "My name is Bill, Bill Weasley, I'm Ginny's brother."

"Ah." Responded Dumbledore.

"I'm really sorry about this Professors but I have no choice."

"What are you …" McGonagall started but Dumbledore laid his hand on her arm to stop her.

"I understand. It is necessary I suppose."

Bill nodded. "I'm afraid I've received very specific instructions. You would trust the source." He smiled slightly. "I promise you that." Taking out his wand, he pointed it at the Headmaster. "Etiamtum Obliviate!"

The older Gryffindors were standing in a semi-circle around Ginny. Shocked and saddened by the fact she was leaving.

"It's time Firecracker." The others looked up startled at Bill's appearance in the common room.

"OK." She said quietly. She looked at the others and then made a decision. She did the rounds of the sixth years first, hugging them, wishing them well. Benjy and Alice were the hardest. What could she say to them, what could make it right? Then she moved on to the seventh years. Here she was in surer territory, she knew what she wanted to say – she could only hope it would make a difference. She went up to Peter she took his hand "Goodbye Peter." She leaned close to him and whispered in his ear "You are braver than you know, please remember that. Please."

Next she went over to where James was standing with his arm around Lily. She hugged Lily quickly and then whispered to her "Love comes in all shapes and sizes Lily. Good men, brave men, heroes and true loves. Trust me. Don't reject the love that comes your way." She turned to James, "Goodbye James. Be the man you know you are in here." And she touched his chest, just over his heart.

As she walked towards Remus, he grabbed her and held her in a fierce embrace. "Trust in your friends Remus, Sirius and James and you. You're a team – true friends. You're a good man Remus you will do great things. Remember, things aren't always as they seem, don't lose hope." He was slightly puzzled by this last piece of cryptic advice, but he hugged her closely.

"I'll miss you, you know." He said quietly.

"I'll always be your friend." She replied.

Finally it was Sirius' turn. He held on to her tightly as the tears started flowing down her cheeks.

"This Harvey boy, he's dead lucky to have you – and he's an idiot if he doesn't see it." He said gruffly.

She smiled at him. "Don't lose hope." She whispered. "Believe." And she held on to him tightly.

"It's time." Bill pulled her out of her reverie. Reluctantly she let Sirius go and walked over to Bill.

"I can't believe … am I never going to see you again?" Remus said with a catch in his voice.

"Maybe one day." Said Bill with a small smile. He held out a small piece of pipe. "It works similarly to a Portkey." Ginny hugged him with one arm while she touched the pipe with her other hand.

"Goodbye." She whispered to the room and they were gone.

The room was silent for a few moments. "I still think Harvey's a stupid name though." Said Sirius grumpily. The resulting laughter relieved the tension in the room.


	10. Twenty years, Thirty Minutes

_A/N: this is kind of a long, bitty chapter, sorry about that but there were a lot of scenes that needed to go into it._

**Chapter ten: Twenty Years, Thirty Minutes.**

**June 1978: Hogwarts, Gryffindor Common Room**

"Hey Prongs old man, where have you been?" Sirius called out as James entered through the portrait hole.

"I've been to see Dumbledore."

"You have? Are you in trouble?"

James smiled. "No, it's just … I'd heard rumours, there's a group. A group dedicated to fighting Voldemort. I was fairly certain Dumbledore was involved. I've asked if I can join as soon as we leave school."

"Why?" Said Peter looking horrified. "It'd be dangerous."

James looked over at Lily. "Because someone has got to say 'No!'" He said quietly.

"I love you James Potter." As the words left her mouth, Lily realised for the first time that she truly did. He was a good man, a brave man, her hero and her true love. And she was never going to reject that, ever again. She would fight with him, her wand at his side, for as long as they both lived.

**December 1979: London**

Benjy was terrified. He was surrounded – there was no way out of this situation alive. No way at all. Death Eaters to the left of him – innocent people to the right. He was going to die – they were all going to die.

The image floated into his mind. An image from two years ago, a girl. Young, confident, a girl saying, "Stop!" The image gave him courage, gave him resolve. OK so he was going to die. He was damn well going to take as many of them with him as he could. They were going to have to tear him to pieces before he'd stop fighting them. Innocent lives were at stake! They were wrong to do this and he was going to say so.

**October 1981: Location Unknown**

"You're braver than you know." The memory of the words ringing in his ears, mocking him. What did she know? What was important wasn't bravery it was survival. He wasn't going to think about it any more. Closing his mind to what he was about to do, concentrating only on "survival" he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Master." He sank to his knees.

"What do you want, weakling."

"Master I can give them to you – the Potters!"

**November 1981: Azkaban**

"No." The young man moaned, he was reliving, over and over again, the worst moments of his life. His childhood; the hatred in his mother's eyes when she spoke to him; telling Snape how to get past the whomping willow; the knowledge that Peter had betrayed them; finding James' and Lily's house destroyed; Jenny saying goodbye with tears in her eyes. Jenny. Without thinking about it his breathing slowed, calm, meditative. He felt inside for his happy memory, felt it start to fill him up. Felt the warmth spreading through his body until he was able to regain control. He changed into Padfoot. Immediately the cold gloom of the Dementers surrounding him dimmed. He was innocent. He was going to survive this. And then he would find Peter, find him and take his revenge – James' revenge.

**November 1981: Somewhere on the Cornish coast**

Everything was over. There was no point in anything any more, nothing to live for. It would be so easy, to just step off this cliff, to just fall into the storm and the raging sea. And there was no reason not to, no reason at all.

Sirius. He could never have believed that Sirius would do that. Sirius was foolish, immature at times, but evil? How could he have done it? How could he have betrayed them all?

"Trust in your friends." He had trusted, and what had happened? "Sirius and James and you. You're a team – true friends." He had thought so. He had really thought so but Sirius …

"You're a good man Remus, you will do great things." Well he had tried but failed. Everything he had tried at, he failed. He had failed himself; he had failed his friends.

"Things aren't always what they seem. Don't lose hope." Hope. He wasn't sure if he had any left. "Never lose hope." The tears came to his eyes. For the first time since he had heard the terrible news he cried. He dropped to his knees and wept like a child, wept for all he had had, all he had lost. Wept until the only thing that remained inside him was a small spark of hope.

**October 1993: Hogwarts, DADA Teacher's Office**

Professor Lupin empathised with the crying girl in front of him. It was never easy to feel that you were different, that events, out of your control, had caused a breach between you and your friends. Of course, her experiences hadn't left quite so visible affects on her as his had but she had scars too, just emotional ones. And loneliness, he could understand that too, only too well.

"Ginny," he began when she had calmed down enough to understand his words, "heroes are not easy people to be around – especially when they are growing up, and Harry is still growing up, he probably hasn't processed the fact he saved your life himself yet and has no idea how to act. And you are still growing up too." He smiled kindly at the girl. "You are a very brave young woman and you've been through a lot. My best advice is, at this stage, relax a bit. Give yourself some time to grow up, Give Harry and Ron a chance to grow up too. A year's difference in age seems a lot now, but it will lesson as you get older. Harry and Ron, and Hermione too, will, I'm sure, come to realise that in time, as will you.

"Make friends child!" His kind smile, softening the order. "You had a difficult first year, you didn't get a chance to get to you your class mates – which wasn't your fault." He added hastily. "Take that time now. You might find friends."

As the second year girl left his office something flickered at the back of his mind, a memory. He couldn't place it and shaking his head, dismissed it as just an odd deja vous.

**November 1993: Hogwarts, the corridor outside the Headmasters Office**

He should have told Dumbledore before – what was he thinking? Guilt that he'd have to confess how they'd deceived him during their Hogwarts days? That wasn't an excuse. Last night, Sirius had actually broken in to Hogwarts. Dumbledore needed to know about Sirius' abilities and about his knowledge of the secret passages. Better than Filch's knowledge – probably better than Dumbledore's himself.

So why was he standing here? Why didn't he go up? He opened his mouth to say the password, and then shut it again, pacing the corridor a bit more.

"Things aren't always what they seem." The voice from so long ago echoed in his mind. But how could they not be? Surely things were exactly how they seemed – what was the alternative? He needed to tell Dumbledore. He needed to –

"Can I help you Remus?" The voice came from behind him. He whipped around in surprise.

"Professor Dumbledore – Albus!" He said foolishly, he was outside the Headmaster's office after all, not an uncommon place to bump into the Headmaster. "Um …" Dumbledore waited patiently. "I was wondering, do you know, I mean have you any idea how Sir – Black got into the castle?" 'Well done Remus', he thought, 'hugely intelligent.'

"Ah, I was telling Severus last night, or more accurately early this morning, many ideas, each as unlikely as the last." He paused. "Is there something you want to tell me Remus?" He asked gently.

"Um, no. No, just … er … wondering, you know." He was hit again by the feeling he'd had a couple of weeks ago. As he walked back to his office, Dumbledore watching him go, he finally placed it. Ginny reminded him, in a lot of ways, of a younger Jenny Weston. He shook off the idea as a weird co-incidence.

**August 1995: Grimmauld Place, the kitchen**

Ginny wandered dejectedly into the kitchen, then noticed the man sitting quietly fuming at the table. "Oh!" She said. "Sorry I didn't mean to disturb you I was just …" she turned to go.

"Stay if you like." Sirius said. "They say 'misery loves company' and I'm probably feeling as miserable as you right now."

She smiled at him slowly and pulled sat down at the table with a sigh. It was only a few weeks ago she'd found out that 'Sirius Black, dangerous murderer' was in fact innocent and, according to Ron, quite nice really. She was still a bit nervous of him but was determined not to let it show.

"Care to share?" He asked quietly. "You don't have to." He added hurriedly. "It's just I can't do anything about my worries so I'd like to feel in some way useful." He tried to keep the bitterness from his tone.

"It's stupid."

"Doesn't matter. I can be pretty stupid myself sometimes, or so I've been told." A hint of humour crept into his tone.

"No-one tells me anything." She started. "Silly Ginny, just a little girl, got to protect her – especially after what happened in her first year. We can't really trust her so we better look after her!"

"What happened in your first year?" He asked curiously. Nobody had ever filled him in on that one.

Briefly she sketched the outline of the story for him. "So you see, I'm the stupid one, I'm the youngest, the silliest the idiot … girl who got possessed by You-Know-Who and tried to kill people! And had to be rescued by Harry Potter."

To be honest it hadn't been the story he was expecting. "Blimey." He said quietly.

"See, I am an idiot." Ginny said sadly.

"You were possessed, that's hardly your fault." He said. "Older and wiser people than you have …"

"That's what Dumbledore said afterwards." She interrupted. "Doesn't make any difference though, they still don't trust me." She slumped down on to the kitchen table, her head buried in her folded arms.

Sirius smiled at the complete despair in her tone, the sort of despair that can only be felt when you are a teenager and the whole world is against you. "It's not just you though, your parents won't tell Fred, George, Ron or Hermione anything either." He had his suspicions that the boys might have found a way to learn a little more about the situation by themselves.

"I know and it's not that so much it's Fred and George and Ron. They don't tell me anything either."

"Hermione?" he asked with a smile.

"She's different. She talks to me. But …" she paused. "Hermione told me that there's a muggle saying. 'All that is needed for evil to triumph is"

"For good men to do nothing." Sirius completed with a cold shiver running down his back.

"Yes, had you heard it?" She continued without waiting for an answer. "But how can I do something when no-one will tell me what is going on?"

"Ah there you are Ginny, I was looking for you." Molly bustled in the door. "Bill's coming round for dinner tonight and I need your help to … oh Mr Black, I didn't see you there. I hope you haven't been disturbing Mr Black, Ginny." She said sharply.

"It's Sirius please, both of you. And Ginny hasn't been disturbing me at all, we were just talking. She is a remarkably astute young woman." He said with a wink to the young girl. "You should be very proud of her."

**That evening: same place**

"Remus?" Sirius said tentatively. "I was talking to Ginny Weasley today and I noticed …"

"What?" Remus responded with a strange, cold, feeling.

"Well, I wondered whether you had ever noticed any similarities with … well, Jenny Weston?"

Remus paused thoughtfully. "Coincidental." He said, uncertainly. "Similarities of colouring and such. That's all it is."

"Yes, co-incidental. After all anything else would be …"

"Well quite."

"It's not just me then?"

The two men stood in awkward silence for a moment until Moody joined them for a spirited discussion about the best way to retrieve Harry.

"Ah Bill you're here at last." Arthur Weasley's voice rang out. "Do you know everyone? Moody, of course you know. This is Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Diggle, I believe you know Dung" Arthur led Bill around the room. Remus and Sirius stood there in shock.

The two men were sat in the library with two glasses and a bottle of firewhisky, which was rapidly emptying.

"Coincidence."

"Absolutely."

"Has to be."

"No other explanation."

"None at all."

"I wonder what happens to his …"

"Another drink?"

"Definitely."

"I wonder who Harvey is?"

Remus laughed.

"What? I said I wonder who …"

"Wonder who … God Sirius your face. You wonder who …" and then he was beyond speech and into the realm of hysterics

"What? What's so funny? Dammit Moony what?"

**November 1997: Hogwarts**

Remus approached the Headmistress's door at a run, hurriedly saying the password he rushed up the stairs and crashed into the office.

"Remus what?"

"He stood, breathing heavily, unable to speak.

"Is it urgent, we have a problem." McGonagall was obviously worried, "Its Ginny Weasley, she's missing."

"She's fine. I know where she is, she's …" Remus panted.

"You know, Remus where is she?"

"Do you remember Jenny Weston?" He said. "1977, 6 weeks."

"Vaguely but what has that got to do with … oh my God. He obliviated us!" McGonagall breathed. "Albus and I. Bill Weasley obliviated us!" The memories came flooding back and she sat down violently in her chair.

**December 1997: The Burrow**

"You remember the charm Bill?"

"Yes Professor."

"Temporary obliviation charm only, twenty years. Trigger phrase – "

"Yes Professor McGonagall I remember. And the passwords." He added before she could say anything. "It's time, I have to go."

The next thirty minutes were tense. No-one knew what to do, what to say. They sat there in silence, waiting until …

"Ginny, I've been so worried, so worried." Molly burst into tears as she grabbed her daughter and hugged her.

The next twenty minutes were a blur of hugging and sobs as Ginny was passed around nearly every member of her family.

Finally she reached the far corner of the room. "Ron, Hermione." She swept both of them into her arms sobbing, "I've been so worried about you, I didn't know where you were, what you were doing, whether you were alive." They stood back and she saw him. Harry. Standing there, saying nothing, doing nothing, just looking at her. "Harry." She said softly looking into his eyes. "I understand you know, you have your fight, the things you need to do. I have my fight too. But I'm not going to deny you any more. You belong to me, just as I belong to you. And if I can draw one Death Eater from your path then whatever the cost it's worth it."

"Ginny …" he croaked out her name. She stepped towards him and they embraced. They both held on for a very long time, ignoring everyone else around them. Whatever happened, they'd have this moment together.


	11. Epilogue: The Closing of the Circle

_A/N: Although the story is complete, there is one or two loose end that needed to be taken care of. Here it is, brief but_ _necessary. Edited to include a little bit of conversation about "why" that I accidentally missed off first time around._

**Epilogue: The Closing of the Circle.**

McGonagall, Remus, Tonks, Luna and Neville were waiting outside. They wanted to give Ginny and her family a chance to greet each other in private. A chance to catch up. It was hell waiting though, Remus thought. Absolute hell.

The kitchen door opened. Neville and Luna rushed forward. "I've missed you two, so much. I can't tell you." Ginny said as they hugged her closely.

"You too, you too."

"Professor McGonagall?" Ginny moved forward. "Thank you, thank you so much – for everything." And she embraced the startled woman.

There was a suspicious hint of moisture behind the Headmistresses glasses as she said. "Silly girl, no need to thank me. You did fine."

Ginny turned to the remaining two. "Tonks." She said.

"Wotcha Ginny. Glad you're OK. Been a bit worried."

"Remus?" Ginny was tentative. Remus still hadn't looked up from his close observation of the ground. "Remus are you …"

"He looked up, there were tears in his eyes.

"Oh Remus I'm so sorry." She said impulsively rushing to him. "I wanted it to change, wanted it to be different. I tried to make it right, tried to change things but I couldn't. I couldn't I'm so sorry."

"Tried to … Oh Ginny don't you know?" He asked, holding her tightly. "Don't you know what a difference you made? To me, to Sirius, to everyone? I can't begin to tell you what you did. Can't even begin." Both of them were crying now, two old friends re-united. "You were the reason Ginny, you were the reason." And he started to tell her, tell her everything that happened after she left. How much she had inspired them. How she was the reason that first James, and then the rest of them joined the order. The reason why he didn't tell anyone about Sirius, the reason he trusted Sirius again so quickly that night in the Shrieking Shack. What Sirius had said about Azkaban, about the techniques she had taught him.

That night in Grimmauld Place. That night when they'd realised and reason that he and Sirius had got so disgustingly drunk. And about James and Lily. About that night when Lily confessed to him that she had been ready to leave James, had been going to look elsewhere until Ginny had made her realise that heroes weren't heroic all the time and she had looked into James' heart and seen the truth. How if it hadn't been for her, Harry might never even have been born – probably wouldn't have because Lily hadn't been a random target that first day. How they'd found out later that the killing of the Mudblood head girl had been planned, planned to bring more students into the Death Eater fold. And that she had stopped that.

And he confessed to her, that horrible day in November. How he was feeling, how close he came to just ending it all. How what she had said to him had been the reason he hadn't.

Ginny listened astounded, how could she have had so much influence? How could the silly little girl who had let Voldemort possess her in her first year, have had so much influence in just six weeks? She shook her in disbelief.

"Do you know how it happened? How I went back in time?" Ginny turned to Professor McGonagall.

"We aren't completely sure, there's a theory but …" the Headmistress trailed off.

"We think it might have been because you had to." Said Remus. "I know it seems strange but Harry is the only person with a chance to defeat Voldemort, and if you hadn't gone back in time, Harry might not even have existed."

Ginny looked confused. "But..." she started.

"We think someone or something pulled you back in time so you could make the world we live in come out this way." Said Professor McGonagall. "What or who that was, we don't know at the moment."

"We're still working on that." Remus finished. "Just know that you did what you had to do. What only you could do. You are a very remarkable young woman Jenny Weston." He said with a smile. "And Ginny Weasley is even more remarkable. Mind you," he continued, "I'm still waiting for that cool girlfriend you promised me to appear! Ouch!" He said as Tonks hit him firmly round the head. Giggling Ginny accompanied them back inside. It was going to be all right. Everything was going to be all right, she knew it.


End file.
